There's a park a block from my house with a tetanus-promising amusement rides, a concrete zoo that several of my students described as a prison, a dubious bonsai garden, a monument to the martyrs of the Chinese revolution, and the tombs/graves of said soldiers.
On Monday my friend Stuart and I paid the ¥3 to get in and visit the tombs for Qing Ming Festival, a memorial day for the dead. ["Qing Ming" (which is pronounced /ching-ming/) translates to "Tomb Sweeping Day."]
First we saw the tall bonsai trees:
Then we went to the grave site:
To honor the dead, they burn metaphorical money or other things the dead might appreciate in the afterlife. Fake money is available, but it doesn't have Mao's face on it because burning his face is illegal.
I was taking photos (while Stuart hovered nearby and pretended not to know the tacky tourist laowai) of a family burning paper in the distance:
Then this guy knelt down right in front of me and started rolling up paper that Stuart says represents money.
Afterward, I went and played cards with other foreigners until I threw up, an activity that, thanks to my health-code-pampered guts, is not at all abnormal :P .
On Monday my friend Stuart and I paid the ¥3 to get in and visit the tombs for Qing Ming Festival, a memorial day for the dead. ["Qing Ming" (which is pronounced /ching-ming/) translates to "Tomb Sweeping Day."]
First we saw the tall bonsai trees:
Then we went to the grave site:
Those crazy round things are tombs.
To honor the dead, they burn metaphorical money or other things the dead might appreciate in the afterlife. Fake money is available, but it doesn't have Mao's face on it because burning his face is illegal.
Don't you know a half-burnt bill won't get to heaven? Way to screw your ancestors...
I was taking photos (while Stuart hovered nearby and pretended not to know the tacky tourist laowai) of a family burning paper in the distance:
Then this guy knelt down right in front of me and started rolling up paper that Stuart says represents money.
Afterward, I went and played cards with other foreigners until I threw up, an activity that, thanks to my health-code-pampered guts, is not at all abnormal :P .
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